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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



MEMOIR 



OF 



MRS. RUTH C. GRAY 



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TRIBUTES 



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MRS. RUTH C GRAY 



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PRIVATELY PRINTED 
1894 



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Copyright, 1894, 
By Melvin L. Gray. 



John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



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CONTENTS 



tributes by 

Page 

Mr. Eugene Field 7 

Miss Martha H. Mathews 32 

Mrs. Diana Pike 39 



TRIBUTE 

BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 

I. 

IT is my privilege to record upon these 
pages somewhat of a quiet, purposeful, 
earnest life. However ill qualified I may be 
for the noble task to which I apply myself 
with a certain melancholy pleasure, my envi- 
ronments at this time are all at least conducive 
to the sincerity and the enthusiasm which 
should characterize a work of this character. 
A glorious panorama is spread before me, — 
such a picture as the latitude of Southern Cali- 
fornia presents at the time when elsewhere 
upon this continent of ours the resentment 
of winter is visited. All around me is the 
mellow grace of sunshine; roses, lilies, helio- 
tropes, carnations, marigolds, nasturtiums, mar- 
guerites, and geraniums are abloom; and as 



8 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

far as the eye can reach, the green velvet of 
billowing acres is blended with the passion of 
wild poppies; the olive, the fig, the orange, 
and the lemon abound ; yonder a vineyard 
lies fast asleep in the glorious noonday; the 
giant rubber-trees in all this remarkable fairy- 
land are close at hand ; and the pepper, the 
eucalyptus, the live-oak, and the palm are here 
and there and everywhere. A city is in the 
distance; the smoke that curls up therefrom 
makes dim, fantastic figures against the beau- 
tiful blue of the sky. There is toil in that 
place, and the din of busy humanity ; but upon 
this far-away hillside, with the sweetest gifts of 
Nature about me, I care not for those things. 
I am soothed by the melodies of wild birds, 
and by the music of the gentle winds that 
come from the great white ocean beyond the 
valleys and the hills, away off there where 
ships go sailing. 

The quiet beauty of these scenes recalls a 
time which, in my life, is so long ago that I 
feel strangely reverential when I speak of it. 
I find myself thinking of my boyhood, and of 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 9 

the hills and valleys and trees and flowers and 
birds I knew w 7 hen the morning of my life was 
fresh and full of exuberance. Those years 
were spent among the Pelham hills, very, 
very far from here ; but memory o'erleaps the 
mountain ranges, the leagues upon leagues of 
prairie, the mighty rivers, the forests, the farm- 
ing lands, — o'erleaps them all ; and to-day, by 
that same sweet magic that instantaneously 
undoes the years and space, I seem to be 
among the Pelham hills again. The yonder 
glimpse of the Pacific becomes the silver 
thread of the Connecticut, seen, not over 
miles of orange-groves, but over broad acres 
of Indian corn ; and instead of the pepper and 
the eucalyptus, the lemon and the palm, I see 
(or I seem to see) the maple once more, and 
the elm and the chestnut trees, the shagbark 
walnut, the hickory, and the birch. In those 
days, these rugged mountains of this south 
land were unknown to me; and the Pelham 
hills were full of marvel and delight, with 
their tangled pathways and hidden stores of 
wintergreen and wild strawberries. Furtive 



10 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

brooks led the little boy hither and thither 
in his quest for trout and dace, while to the 
gentler-minded the modest flowers of the wild- 
wood appealed with singular directness. A 
partridge rose now and then from the thicket 
and whirred away, and with startled eyes the 
brown thrush peered out from the bushes. I 
see these pleasant scenes again, and I hear 
again the beloved sounds of old ; and so with 
reverence and with welcoming I take up my 
task, for it was among these same Pelham hills 
that the dear lady of whom I am to speak was 
born and spent her childhood. 



II. 

Ruth Cutler Bacon was born at Enfield, 
Mass., on the 17th of October, 1828. She 
was the oldest of six children. Her mother 
was Emeline Cutler, born at Holliston, Mass., 
and related to the Adams and Littlefield 
families, of New England. Her father was 
Rufus Freeman Bacon, born at Brimfield, 
Mass., and his mother was a sister of 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. II 

Nathaniel Dodge, famous in his time as an 
educator, and particularly as a disciplinarian. 
When the Merriam Brothers, of Springfield, 
first published their Webster's Unabridged Dic- 
tionary, two especially and elaborately bound 
copies were produced, — • one as a gift to the 
British queen, and the other as a gift to 
Nathaniel Dodge, the publishers' old and 
revered instructor. 

Ruth was named after her maternal grand- 
mother ; and she seems to have taken not only 
her name, but also very many of her most 
sterling qualities from her mother's side of the 
family. In her childhood she evinced those 
admirable characteristics which later in life 
won the regard and love of all who knew 
her. Even in youth she had high purposes; 
a valorous sincerity appeared in all she did ; 
she was ambitious but patient, industrious but 
unostentatious, generous but frugal, just but 
sympathetic, — in fact, her whole life seems to 
have been an illustration of that type of New 
England womanhood which is great in its 
purity, its earnestness, its gentleness, and its 
valor. 



12 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

Her personal appearance was prepossessing 
to the degree of beauty. She was petite, and 
of a trim figure ; her complexion was clear, 
and she had rosy cheeks ; her dark eyes were 
eloquent of expression, — ■ in her youth these 
features were so distinctive that in her native 
village they called her Bright-Eyes. A fond- 
ness for, and indulgence in, out-of-door life 
contributed largely to the appearance of health, 
which gave to youth a special charm. She 
loved nothing else more than rambling over 
those Pelham hills to which my thoughts 
revert so tenderly to-day ; communion with 
Nature, and the companionship of the woods, 
of flowers, of birds, of brooks, were precious 
to her; and her love for these things never 
forsook her. It is recalled, that after her 
marriage, accompanying her husband upon a 
professional journey into Louisiana, she spent 
much time collecting, analyzing, and classify- 
ing the flowers she found in vast abundance 
in that locality; and thus she renewed with 
enthusiasm her acquaintance with those botan- 
ical delights which were so considerable a part 
of her earlier life. 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 1 3 

It is my opinion that the sense of duty is 
stronger in womankind than in us men ; and 
in Ruth Bacon the sense of duty was at all 
times paramount. When, in 1837, a tidal 
wave of disaster swept over the country, in- 
volving our manufacturing industries in ruin, 
Ruth saw in her father's business failure not 
only an opportunity, but a duty. The girl 
seems to have determined then to be a help 
to that father; and from that time, — remem- 
ber, she was only nine years of age, — from 
that time, I say, she seems to have pursued 
quietly and determinedly the highest purpose 
in human life, — the purpose of helping. They 
had moved to Warren; and it was here, some- 
what later, that Ruth professed religion, and 
joined the Congregational Church, whose 
pastor at that time was the Rev. George 
Trask. In the faith and in the teachings 
and in the ministrations of this church she 
lived and died, faithful through all and to 
the end. 

Her education continued at Quaboag Acad- 
emy, of which institution the principal then 



14 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

was Stephen Pearl. This gentleman had sub- 
sequently a career which I must tell somewhat 
of. He went to New Orleans, and served 
as superintendent of the public schools; but 
upon the breaking out of the Civil War, he 
abandoned the profession of pedagogue, and 
espoused that of a soldier. In due time he 
was appointed provost-marshal, at Nashville; 
and in that capacity he acquitted himself credit- 
ably. On one occasion he sallied out at the 
head of a body of Federal soldiers, and engaged 
a detachment of the Confederates with such 
success that the enemy surrendered ; and, lo 
and behold! Provost-Marshal Pearl's own son 
was in command of the Confederate force ; and 
he it was who gave up his sword into the 
hands of his patriotic father! 

Having been graduated from Quaboag Acad- 
emy, Ruth Bacon taught the district school 
at Warren, for one summer, and then went 
to Southbridge Academy as assistant to Mr 
Stone, who afterward became superintendent 
of schools in Massachusetts. She was then 
only seventeen years old, but she was full 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 1 5 

of ambition and determination. She looked 
ever forward and upward. It was about this 
time that there came to her notice a news- 
paper account of the scheme which Catherine 
Beecher had conceived, of organizing and 
sending out into the West parties of young 
women, to serve as school-teachers. The 
scheme appealed instantaneously to this 
young girl for sympathy. Again she saw 
herein an opportunity and a duty. Her 
course lay westward ; this conviction hugged 
her heart, and prayer strengthened it. So 
she spoke to her father of it. Very properly 
he discouraged, nay, he forbade, her associat- 
ing herself with the enterprise. I say "very 
properly," for it is the father s nature to keep 
his dear ones with him ; and this daughter was 
very dear to him, and she was a help and a 
solace to him ; and God knows it is hard to 
part with such a one ! But Ruth wrought her 
end in her own quiet w r ay; and presently, when 
her father saw how her heart was set upon it, 
and how she had come to this purpose prayer- 
fully, he relented (as any other good father 



1 6 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

would have done) ; and so she had her way, 
with her father's consent and blessing. 

Having attended a course of Miss Beecher's 
lectures, at Hartford, Ruth started, in 1847, 
with a party of young women for the West. 
It is difficult for us nowadays to understand 
the hardships of travel in those times; we 
should rebel if those hardships were put on 
us. Ill-ventilated, cramped, and jostling rail- 
way cars, awkward stage-coaches, and over- 
crowded steamboats were the penalties that 
fell to the lot of the traveller forty-five years 
ago. But when the young heart is filled with 
the enthusiasm of a noble purpose, mountains 
are molehills, and tribulation is sweet. 

They reached St. Louis in due time. In 
the party was a Miss Susan Jones. Some 
years previous she had met in Alabama a 
young man of the name of Gray, who, as she 
had learned, was now practising law in St. 
Louis. She determined to call upon him, and 
she asked Miss Bacon to accompany her; but 
Ruth declined, thus dismissing, without even 
a passing regret, an opportunity of meeting 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 1 7 

the gentleman who subsequently became her 
husband. 

From St. Louis Miss Bacon proceeded to 
Fort Madison, Iowa; and there she located as 
teacher of the district school. It was a new 
country then, — new and wild. But there were 
charming folks there, even then as now, and 
they took kindly to the bright, pretty, sweet 
girl who had come into the wilderness with a 
noble purpose in her brave heart. Among the 
ladies who were good to her was she who after- 
ward became wife to Mr. Justice Miller, of the 
United States Supreme Court; this lady felt 
that Ruth's place was in a sphere higher and 
broader than a pioneer settlement, and she told 
Ruth so. Perhaps it was by the counsel of 
this excellent lady, — perhaps it was simply the 
natural forward step in a course calmly, wisely, 
and prayerfully thought out and planned by 
the dutiful girl ; at any rate, in the due course 
of time, Miss Bacon became convinced that 
her path lay in a less circumscribed field. It 
is evident from a perusal of her journals that 
from the beginning of her school life, she had 



1 8 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

no other ambition dearer than that of becoming 
a successful teacher. In one of these modest 
records of her busy, purposeful life, I find 
these words : " How weak and frail a creature 
I am ! I ever doubt my own sufficiency and 
talents for the achievement of the great and 
noble goal which I strive to attain, — that of 
being a competent and successful teacher ; and 
if I ever do reach the desired height, it will 
all be owing to the assistance of divine power. 
Oh, may God give me grace and strength for 
whatever station I may occupy ! " She was 
seventeen years of age when she wrote those 
words ; and that prayer for grace and strength 
was my dear friend's prayer through all her 
life. 

Her friendships in Fort Madison were such 
as contributed to her growth ; and she was 
grateful for the kindness shown to her by the 
excellent people of that pioneer town. Again 
and again in her diary we find expressions of 
gratitude for the sympathy and goodness of 
those about her. So we can understand that 
it was not, after all, without regret that finally 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 19 

Miss Bacon abandoned this sphere of endeavor 
for the higher and broader one to which her 
sense of duty seemed to summon her. 

It was in 1848 that Miss Bacon removed to 
St. Louis. During a preliminary visit she had 
made the acquaintance of David Keith, Esq., 
of the business firm of Keith & Woods, and a 
member of the school board. This gentleman 
had formerly lived in Warren, Mass. ; and as 
an old townsman of her father's, it was natural 
that to Mr. Keith should have been confided 
Miss Bacon's willingness, if not her desire, to 
become an instructor in the St. Louis schools. 
It seems that just at this time an examination 
of teachers was being held; and at the sugges- 
tion of Mr. Keith, Miss Bacon participated in 
this examination, and acquitted herself with 
conspicuous success. It appears that one of 
the committee of examination was Charles 
Stewart, principal of the business college, and 
a mathematician of exceptional proficiency. 
It chanced that he was particularly expert in 
cancellation; and he became at once a loyal 
friend to Miss Bacon when he discovered that 



20 MEMOIR OF MRS, RUTH C. GRAY. 

in the elucidation of the problems submitted 
to her, she, too, was proficient in the processes 
of cancellation. The young lady's examina- 
tion resulted, in fact, so brilliantly that it was 
noised about; and there came to her an oppor- 
tunity to connect herself with one of the pri- 
vate academies in St. Louis. But her duty 
seemed to lie elsewhere ; and in the resolu- 
tion she had made, she was confirmed by the 
advice of such eminent educators as Edward 
Wyman and William G. Eliot, these gentlemen 
being at that time members of the Board of 
Education in St. Louis. 

I cannot forbear narrating (as indicative 
of the sectional prejudice then existing) that 
among the St. Louis people there obtained at 
that time a feeling hostile to the employment 
of so many teachers from Yankee land. Miss 
Bacon, having registered from Iowa, afforded 
this element an apparently excellent illustra- 
tion wherewith to clinch their argument. " If 
the Iowa teachers pass the best examina- 
tions," said they, " why not employ Iowa and 
other Western teachers, instead of importing 
Yankees ? " 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 21 

Bidding adieu to her beloved friends in Fort 
Madison, Miss Bacon located in St. Louis, in 
the service of the public schools. At that 
time Spencer Smith was superintendent of the 
public schools; and his wife, a graduate from 
Mrs. Emma Willard's Female Institution, at 
Troy, conducted a seminary for young women 
in St. Louis. Mr. Smith, who seems to have 
had an eye to his wife's interests, as well as his 
own, was not long in finding out that Miss 
Bacon was particularly qualified for the duties 
of an instructor in Mrs. Smith's seminary. 
Accordingly, in due time it was suggested that 
Miss Bacon accept a place among the corps of 
teachers in the seminary. It was some time 
before Miss Bacon could be induced to make 
the change; she had been so kindly treated 
by the school board that she felt that her 
duty first lay with them. At this juncture, 
however, Dr. Wyman used his persuasive 
offices so effectively with the board that the 
proposition involving Miss Bacon's transfer to 
Mrs. Smith's seminary for young women was 
acceded to; and Miss Bacon remained as an 



22 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

instructor in this seminary for a space of three 
years. Meantime, she made the acquaintance 
of Melvin L. Gray, the young man whom she 
had declined to meet upon the occasion of her 
first arrival in St. Louis, en route to Iowa. 
He was by birth and education a Vermonter ; 
after a period of teaching in Alabama he had 
located in St. Louis, in the practice of law. 
Between the young teacher and the young 
attorney there were naturally many bonds of 
sympathy, both having come of New England 
stock and New England tutelage to work out 
their destinies in the new and growing West 
Miss Bacon and Mr. Gray were united in 
marriage Sept. 4, 185 1, the Rev. Dr. Edgar H. 
Gray, of Shelburne Falls, officiating on that 
occasion. The wedding was solemnized at 
Mr. Bacon s house, in Warren, in the presence 
of a large company of relatives and neighbors. 
One of the surviving legends of that auspicious 
event records the jocose remark of the village 
wit to the effect that this was the first time 
that he had ever seen a young woman turn 
gray in a moment. 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 23 

For forty-two years the man and wife 
enjoyed together a life of uninterrupted hap- 
piness. Death only could separate the two 
loving, loyal hearts; and that separation is but 
for a little while, — none believes this more 
implicitly than does my bereaved, beloved 
friend, who sits beside me while I write these 
words. 

III. 

My acquaintance with Mrs. Gray began 
in 1 87 1. I was at that time just coming of 
age, and there were many reasons why I was 
attracted to the home over which this admi- 
rable lady presided. In the first place, Mrs. 
Gray's household was a counterpart of the 
households to which my boyhood life in New 
England had attached me. Again, both Mr. 
and Mrs. Gray were old friends of my parents ; 
and upon Mr. Gray's accepting the executor- 
ship of my father's estate, Mrs. Gray felt, I am 
pleased to believe, somewhat more than a 
friendly interest in the two boys, who, coming 
from rural New England life into the great, 



24 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

strange, fascinating city, stood in need of disin- 
terested friendship and prudent counsel. I 
speak for my brother and myself when I say 
that for the period of twenty years we found 
in Mrs. Gray a friend as indulgent, as forbear- 
ing, as sympathetic, as kindly suggestive, and 
as disinterested as a mother, and in her home, 
a refuge from temptation, care, and vexation. 
Remembering these things, it is pleasant to 
testify to our love and gratitude to this lady. 
Mrs. Gray exhibited through all her life a 
fondness for youth; and she seemed to read 
and understand the different types of youthful 
character with amazing directness and certainty. 
It must have been a sorrow to her that she was 
denied the sacred sweets of maternity, for she 
was a womanly woman, and she loved little 
children. But no word of complaint ever fell 
from her lips at the dispensations of Provi- 
dence; God's will was sufficient, and pleased 
her; and even in the later years of her life, 
when ill health with its countless vexations 
fell to her lot, there were exhibited in all she 
did and said the patience and humility of a 
valorous soul. 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 2$ 

At one period of her life the care of an 
orphan girl — a little one of five years of age 
— devolved upon her; and to the duties of a 
foster-mother she devoted herself with tender- 
ness and zeal. Great was her grief when 
presently the child died. At another time a 
tiny babe was left at the door of Mrs. Gray's 
house. A note pinned to the clothing of 
the foundling conveyed the message that the 
mother of the child was sure that her babe 
would have tender care at Mrs. Gray's hands. 
Making no inquiry or investigation as to the 
antecedents of the little one, Mrs. Gray cheer- 
fully accepted the trust put upon her, and 
with all the devotion of her motherly nature 
she cared for that little one, and mourned 
it deeply when God called the innocent to 
His better love. I hardly know why I speak 
of these things, — perhaps it were better that 
they were unsaid ; yet she was so much of a 
mother to me that these other instances of 
her tender sympathy impress me vividly with 
their pathetic beauty. Youth loved this gentle 
lady, believed in her, and confided in her. And 



26 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

upon her part, she respected and sympathized 
with youth, sharing its enthusiasms, encourag- 
ing its healthful ambitions, and befriending it 
with her companionship and with her example. 
So it was that she was able to retain to the 
end of her life that freshness, cheerfulness, and 
gayety of disposition which enlivened her home 
life, and gave a special charm to all her rela- 
tions with her fellow-creatures. 

Mrs. Gray had unusual executive ability; 
this gift came to her, I think, as an inheritance 
from her mother, a woman of extraordinary 
distinctiveness and force of character. The 
inheritance, if such it was, was scrupulously 
nurtured and trained, for Mrs. Gray believed 
it to be a woman's duty to improve her oppor- 
tunities in such wise as to be able, if circum- 
stances so compelled her, to make her own 
way honorably in the world, and to achieve 
and maintain a position of credit, if not of 
distinction. To the discharge of her domestic 
duties she applied herself with the most patient 
conscientiousness, observing with the most 
painstaking care the minutest details thereof. 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 27 

She was exactingly methodical, yet all her rela- 
tions with those in her service were marked 
with thoughtfulness and forbearance. Her 
servants were devotedly attached to her. All 
who have visited the comfortable, hospitable 
home in Pine Street will recall the colored 
woman, Eliza, who came from servitude to 
find a life-long friend in Mrs. Gray. When, 
after many years of faithful, efficient service, 
Eliza lay upon her death-bed, her last words 
expressed a wish for the presence of the dear 
lady who had been her best friend upon earth. 
Eliza's children remained with Mrs. Gray, and 
at her death were substantially remembered in 
and cared for by her will. A gentle, kindly 
regard for all who wrought was a conspicuous 
characteristic of Mrs. Gray's; she always had 
help for those who helped themselves. In 
earlier life she knew the hardships of poverty; 
and when prosperity came, she did not aban- 
don the practices of prudence and self-denial 
acquired in youth. She was always generous, 
never extravagant ; invariably liberal, never 
wasteful; she had the good old New England 



28 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

notion that her prosperity should be shared 
with others, but always justly and prudently. 
By careful and wise investments, she had accu- 
mulated a property that might have increased 
threefold but for her determination to devote 
a certain share of her income to charity ; 
and these benefactions were always bestowed 
quietly to the degree of secrecy. The worthy 
poor, the sick, the needy, the unfortunate of 
every class and race, had succor at her hands ; 
yet it can truthfully be said that her charities 
were so modestly dispensed that her left hand 
knew not what her right hand gave. 

Mrs. Gray's intellectual growth continued 
throughout her life. She was an extensive 
reader and investigator. She explored the 
fields of literature with enthusiasm ; and once 
comprehended, no subject eluded the retention 
of her memory. A singular clearness, direct- 
ness, and sensibility marked her judgment of 
theories and things and practices; and although 
critical to a degree, Mrs. Gray had charity to 
all things human. Her information was exact; 
and so when she spoke or acted, it was intelli- 



TRIBUTE BY MR. EUGENE FIELD. 29 

gent. She loved the beautiful things of life ; 
she found enjoyment in the contemplation of 
Nature and in communion with flowers and 
ferns and plants and trees and birds and 
brooks ; she revered art ; and music was a 
solace to her. In the beauty of Nature and 
in the beauty of human accomplishments, she 
saw manifested the goodness of God ; and she 
loved these things. 

In all matters pertaining to education she 
was always deeply interested ; and it is with 
peculiar appropriateness that Mr. Gray has 
founded a professorship in Drury College in 
memory of his beloved wife. 

Of Mrs. Gray s association with church work, 
Miss Mathews speaks so fully, so intelligently, 
and so sympathetically that words of mine 
thereof would be superfluous. But I cannot 
forbear referring to the cordiality of the friend- 
ship which existed for very many years between 
Mrs. Gray and her pastor, the Rev. Dr. Truman 
M. Post. The death of this gifted, noble man 
was mourned by none other more deeply than 
by Mrs. Gray ; and it was largely due to her 



30 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

inspiration and her benefaction that the Post 
Memorial Library, at Monticello Seminary, was 
endowed. 

IV. 

But it seems to me that the sweetest, holiest 
light of this dear lady's life arose from her 
devotion to her mother. I speak of this with 
special reverence, for my own dear mother 
went from me so very many years ago that 
when I came to speak of the blessedness of a 
mother s love, I hardly know whereof I speak, 
it is all so far, so very far away, and withal so 
precious, so sacred a thing. 

For thirty-two years Mrs. Bacon was a mem- 
ber of her daughter's household. It pleased 
God to afflict her with blindness ; and for nine- 
teen years her daughter's gentle hand led her 
to and fro. The sympathy between the two 
was perfect and beautiful ; and when at last 
the hour of separation came, it was as if the 
light had gone out, too, in the life of the faith- 
ful daughter. There was never a murmur of 
complaint ; and those who were with her then 



TRIBUTE BY MR, EUGENE FIELD. 3 1 

tell me that dear Mrs. Gray seemed to be 
stricken of a sudden as with a killing wound. 
And when I saw her again, I, too, saw the 
change ; and against the yearning of my heart 
(for she was always so gentle and good to me), 
I knew that she heard a beloved voice calling 
to her from beyond the River, and that she 
was not unwilling to go in answer to its 
summons. 

She fell asleep one time last summer, a 
gradual failing, a sinking away, — that was all. 
Those nearest and dearest to her stood round 
about her as the last night wore away. He 
who had been upheld and cheered and solaced 
and blessed by her love for nigh half a century, 
bent over her and took her dear hand and 
spoke to her. It was for the last time. They 
saw upon her glorified face no shadow of the 
Valley, but the shining light of the Eternal 
City. And through the windows streamed the 
summer sunshine; and it was Morning! 



EXTRACT FROM THE PAPER 



OF 



MISS MARTHA H. MATHEWS, 

Read before the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of 
the First Congregational Church, St. Louis. 

WE of the First Church meet to-day under 
the shadow of a deep and personal 
grief in the loss of Mrs. M. L. Gray, for 
many years — indeed, from its origin — the 
Secretary and Treasurer of our Society. 
While we were absent one from another 
during the summer months, there came the 
" one clear call " for her, and " she has met 
her Pilot face to face." 

In her fresh young womanhood, Mrs. Gray, 
then Ruth C. Bacon, came to St. Louis, a 
pioneer teacher from Massachusetts, — one of 
a band of young women selected and prepared 
for the work by the famous Catherine Beecher. 
Endowed with the best New England qualities 
softened by innate gentleness, a fine mind 



TRIBUTE BY MISS MARTHA H. MATHEWS. 33 

trained in the best schools of the day, a love 
for " the sweet serenity of books," and possessed 
of noble purposes and a high courage, it was 
only natural that she should attract to herself 
as friends the honored men and women of 
the time, and find doors to desirable positions 
immediately opening to her. 

As teacher, her influence was an inspiration 
to the highest attainments in intellectuality, 
culture, and character. Many of the best 
women in St. Louis, and some outside, who 
have gained large and enviable reputations, 
gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness to 
her for many of the highest formative influ- 
ences of their lives. Later, in her own home, 
while forgetting none of the duties of a loving 
and devoted wife, she yet found it possible, 
during twenty years, to be eyes to her blind 
mother, caring for her with the wisest and 
gentlest of filial ministrations. We know, too, 
that her home had the genuine home atmos- 
phere, where love grew and blossomed, and 
friendships were cherished, and the graces 

3 



34 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

of hospitality and charity lent their charm, 
and a broad and sincere religion sent up its 
incense ; a home — would there were more like 
it ! — suggestive of the beatitudes, and breath- 
ing a benediction. 

But here to-day we remember, specially and 
thankfully, that no one home, or city, or 
country, could bound her interests ; but that 
they extended also to dark corners of the 
earth where true homes are not. She had 
taken into her heart her Saviour's words: 
"Other sheep I have which are not of this 
fold; them also I must bring, and they shall 
hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold 
and one shepherd." Toward them her sym- 
pathies turned before the days of women's 
organized work in their behalf. In 1870 there 
were no Women's Foreign Missionary Socie- 
ties of the Congregational Church in this city, 
nor in this State. But in 187 1 the first 
Society in Missouri was formed, through the 
earnestness and activity of Mrs. Dr. Post of 
the First Church. It was composed of ladies 
of the various churches in the city, and Mrs. 



TRIBUTE BY MISS MARTHA H. MATHEWS. 35 

Gray was one of its charter members. The 
meetings were held monthly, in a little room 
no longer in existence, in the old First Church. 
This Society was very dear to the heart of 
Mrs. Gray; and she felt specially privileged 
years after, when visiting the Congregational 
Bible House in Boston, to hear Mrs. Bowker, 
the President of the parent Society there, 
speak with great appreciation of the Missouri 
Branch and its President, Mrs. Post. Mrs. 
Bowker said : " From none of the early socie- 
ties did we gain more encouragement than 
from yours ; yours seemed to have begun an 
earnest and prosperous work. It was cheering 
to greet your Society, that came to us from 
beyond the Mississippi, and from an old 
slave State." 

In 1884 it was considered desirable, for 
greater efficiency and the development of per- 
sonal responsibility and love for the cause, 
that each church should have its own organi- 
zation. Accordingly, in January of '84 our 
own Society of the First Church was formed, 
so ably officered with Mrs. Dr. Merrill, Presi- 



36 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

dent, Mrs. Young, Vice-President, and Mrs. 
Gray, Secretary and Treasurer. Ever since 
that time Mrs. Gray has been not only an 
intelligent, interested, and faithful member of 
this Society, but a valued, and we have often 
thought, an indispensable officer. Not until 
a year ago could the Society bring itself to 
accept her resignation as Secretary, and then 
only in consideration of her failing health. 
After a few months she found it necessary to 
resign her Treasurer's book also. This was 
a model one, kept through all these years with 
the greatest accuracy and beauty of neatness. 
Her Secretary's book shows not only these 
characteristics, but evidences also fine literary 
quality, delicacy of taste, and rare beauty of 
soul. 

Nothing but delicate health and failing 
strength ever detained Mrs. Gray from the 
regular meetings of the Society. We who 
have known her of late years cannot forget 
how often her courageous spirit braved 
summer heat and winter storm to be present. 
I specially remember how her interest in the 



TRIBUTE BY MISS MARTHA H. MATHEWS. 37 

meetings led her to somewhat overtax her 
strength in attending the Silver Anniver- 
sary and the Annual State Meeting of last 
season. 

In her connection with missionary work — 
as, indeed, everywhere — there were manifest 
a modesty and humility that gave all she did 
or said a double worth. That these were 
fundamental elements of her character even 
in youth is shown by her diary, written for 
no eye but her own, and dating back to 1845. 
In it she repeatedly and gratefully acknow- 
ledges that whatever measure of success was 
hers at any time was due not at all to her own 
merit, but to the strength given her by her 
loving Heavenly Father. 

A sweet presence has gone from among us, 
a rare and ripe character that had mastered 
the lessons of this life, and was matured for 
those grander things which God has prepared 
for them that love him, — things that our eyes 
have not seen, nor our ears heard, nor our 
hearts entertained, but which have become 
realities to her. 



38 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

It is for us, who have enjoyed this com 
panionship in work and friendship, who are 
the inheritors of sweet memories and a noble 
example, to profit thereby, and be the better 
in that " Such as she have lived and died. " 



TRIBUTE BY MRS. DIANA PIKE. 

From "The Congregationalist " of Oct. 5, 1893. 

RUTH C. BACON GRAY, wife of Melvin 
L. Gray, Esq., of St. Louis, Mo., and 
daughter of the late Rufus F. and Emeline 
Cutler Bacon, of Warren, Mass., died July 6. 

Mrs. Gray was born in Enfield, Mass., 
October, 1828. She was a beautiful, loving, 
and intelligent child, the joy of her parents, 
beloved by relatives and friends. Her parents 
moved to Warren in 1835, where they resided 
quite a term of years, and where she acquired 
her education. She graduated from Warren 
Academy with high honors in early girlhood ; 
she followed school-teaching a short term of 
years. She afterward went to St. Louis to 
teach in a seminary, where she taught a 
number of years, and where she became 
acquainted with and married Mr. Gray. She 



40 MEMOIR OF MRS. RUTH C. GRAY. 

was a devoted daughter and wife, ministering 
to the comfort and happiness of parent and 
husband with assiduous care and devotion. 
She was for many years an active and efficient 
member of society, till failing health inter- 
rupted her faithful efforts. Her kindness and 
hospitality to her relatives and friends will be 
long remembered by them. She passed to 
her rest above after a brief illness, to be 
forever with Him whom she early sought, 
and whose cause she maintained so many 
years. She left a most devoted and affec- 
tionate husband and a large circle of friends 
to mourn her loss. 





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